To better inform students, I decided to share my perspective for this year’s Student Association president, internal vice president and treasurer races based on my evaluation of their past experiences, their public campaign posts, Thresher debate performance and one-on-one interviews.

Over the last week, more than 2,000 Rice students, faculty and staff signed up to help rebuild the city we all call home through the Rice Harvey Action Team collaborative. They have volunteered nearly 8,000 hours, waking up before the sun rises and working long after it goes down. The Rice community’s sense of civic duty has been inspiring to everyone; however, we can and should ask more of each other.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the SA, we are the campus-wide student government organization that collaborates with students, administrators and the colleges to represent your interests to the faculty, administration and external organizations. Our mission is to enrich the undergraduate experience by engaging, inspiring and advocating for all Rice undergraduate students.

In recent days, debate has reached a fever pitch about Senate Bill #4, a bill recommending the creation of a mandatory “Critical Thinking in Sexuality” class to combat sexual assault on Rice’s campus. This debate has grown increasingly personal and centered on process over substance. Recently, many arguments have focused on petty attacks against individuals without substantive discussion of the bill itself. These personal attacks have no place in the arena of public discourse as they cheapen the debate and distract us from the goal of combating sexual assault.